PhilipWW: I think the case study photo probably is of the auditorium, that’s the same colour of acoustic wall covering as Screen 5, albeit it’s also the same as other “Warner Village” venues built at that time.
It needs a full refurbishment to bring it up to standard; I doubt such a project is a priority for Vue…
-Photos of the auditorium and foyer can be seen in the June 1963 edition of International Projectionist. (Thanks to Joe Vogel for the original link to this, although that one no longer works.) It looks like more padding was later added to the seating?
-The foyer/vestibule can be seen in newsreel footage of the “Wonderful Life” premiere from 1964.
-Photos in flickr user dusashenka’s album (at the bottom of the page) – these are from the mid-80s but it doesn’t seem too much has changed since the 60s—including the bar, chandelier, and mink/gold auditorium colour scheme—the “bump” tiles seem to be gold.
The internal access to Screen 2 seems to have been added; otherwise, I wasn’t alive in the 1960s, so someone else may be able to enumerate any changes!
Shame that the picture/sound quality you describe is medicore. In particular 4DX would seem to me to be most effective combined with high quality sound including plenty of headroom, particularly for the LFE sub-bass) channel.
Doesn’t sound very promising for the LSQ conversion… ridiculous that operators spend a fortune on flashy foyers and systems like 4DX but the projection/sound, i.e. the most important aspect of all, isn’t properly calibrated (or possibly sufficiently well specified.) But then that’s the way it always has been…
Sub-committee report from the 24th October is available in the main planning application documents, no objections, Draft Decision Notice is for permission to be granted. Expect approval to be issued tomorrow.
“A refurbishment is proposed at the premises involving the removal of existing fixed seating in each of the four auditoria involving the introduction of larger, more luxurious, fewer fixed seats resulting in an overall reduced capacity.”
“less seats and more personal space… it’s time to experience films the way they were meant to be seen with ISENSE… Dolby Atmos sound and flawless 4K projection.”
The East Kilbride location features “Luxury hand stitched reclining seats.” The auditoria look good…
Panton Street, OTOH, could be considered the ultimate wrong venue for spacious luxury cinemas… would seem to be some room for reconfiguration if the projection booths are dispensed with to form boothless auditoria.
I can’t imagine Empire Cinemas spending £ms to bring the venue up to scratch, too much competition and lots of high quality up-to-date screens in the LSQ-Piccadilly area.
Takes more than a lick of paint to finish a foyer to current expectations. ;–)
Robert: I noticed, in my last visit, a printed stand-alone sign outside the IMAX auditorium saying something like “IMAX (Screen 3).”
Removal of the Empire signage seems to be pending the full foyer/lobby areas refurbishment, quite why Cineworld couldn’t just cover them up with stick-on signage or similar is beyond me…
I can only imagine patrons have to use Google Maps or similar to actually find the “Cineworld” in LSQ; there were a number of American tourists in the auditorium during my last visit.
theatreofvarieties: Many, many thanks, once again!
NO, THE STADIA ONLY DATES FROM 1962 AND THATS WHERE THEY ARE FROM.
Ah… combined with your post saying that the 1927 circle went higher, the jigsaw puzzle of the 1962 conversion finally makes sense.
For instance, I could never work out why the old “tea room” seemed to be wider than the 1962 main foyer area, with the sloped ceiling implying that the stadia structure is encroaching on the right side of the 1962 foyer.
(Put that way, it seems obvious now; but the layout of the rear of the 1928 auditorium is similar.)
Overlaying redrawn section plans (which I’d previously assumed were simply in no way to scale) suggests that the original projection ports were higher, and the 1962 stadia lower and slightly less steeply raked.
The position of the original circle seems to be approximately at the top of the lighter coloured tiles at the bottom of the sidewalls of the Empire 1’s circle section?
IIRC, from the book “Empire Leicester Square – The First 100 Years” (David High) the original circle was formed by a continuous pour of concrete. The 1962 reconstruction must have been extreme indeed; I can’t work out where the primary girder for the circle could be.
NO, IT HAS BAFFLETTES AROUND THE STAGE SPEAKERS
Fantastic. :–)
It was the 1960 comfort deluxe model, there were 100 taken out and saved, the rest were scrapped.
What happened to the 100 that were saved, and were any other elements of Empire 1 removed and saved?
Also, I wonder about the specifications of the IMAX concealed colour-changing LED lighting, and the cold cathode concealed lights that were in Empire 1?
With the LED lights, I assume that flexible strip types are used, other than the ones around the screen?
Visited the Empire Leicester Square to attend a screening of “Blade Runner 2049” in the IMAX auditorium.
Absolutely stunning film; one could say it’s exactly the film the auditorium was built for. Outstanding picture and excellent (12 channel) sound as well.
Auditorium spotless with very good air conditioning, lighting all well timed to match programme, “non-sync” music from the movie soundtrack.
Pre-show announcement by a member of staff began with “Welcome to the Empire… er… Cineworld Leicester Square…”
“Blade Runner” version of IMAX “Countdown” trailer played.
Foyer continues to deteriorate.
Photos uploaded: “Strictly No Cameras” notice at the entrance to the IMAX auditorium, HVAC extraction duct grille on the 1962 stadia riser.
Turns out that the American Seating Company has sold its architectural fixed seating business to the Irwin Seating Company, also of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
They still offer the following product from the American Seating Company range suitable for auditorium use:
Irwin Seating Company – American Seating Products – Stellar.
This seems to be the closest available new seating to the seats that were installed in Empire 1.
They also have a page showing an example refurbishment of old American Seating Company product.
Zappomatic: If they’ve already done the new fit-out last time you visited, then why would the acoustics change for Atmos?
The “wooden” wall cladding I can only assume was there because someone thought it would look good… an acoustic disaster!
Quite interesting to compare the original auditorium with today’s standards, cinema interiors have moved on a lot in 10 years. Granted, they tend towards black boxes with few decorative features, but they’re far better than the average tacky multiplex auditorium.
Really should haul myself over to the O2 at some point check out the refurbished screen… alas, more “new” auditoria than films worth seeing these days!
As part of my ongoing research into all aspects of cinemas, I stumbled on the following, which I found amusing:
“In the Towngate Theatre (Poole)… (there is a very) obvious echo (from the rear wall)… Acoustic tiles were installed (as an attempted remedial treatment) in 1978, but the NEXT DAY (my emphasis) (they were painted) the same colour as the adjacent walls… blocking the pores which made them acoustically absorbent.”
FanaticalAboutOdeon: Bring back “The First Choice”!
Regarding the separate 3D screen, as I mentioned in a previous post, the proposed facade has a large Dolby “Double-D” logo prominently positioned above the balcony, suggesting the refurbished cinema will feature a Dolby Cinema installation.
Dolby’s 3D system uses spectral filtering (i.e. slightly different red/green/blue wavelength for each eye, with the wavelength for the other eye filtered by the 3D glasses) rather than polarisation, thus obviating the need for the (polarisation preserving) silver screen.
(I hadn’t thought about this until I replied to your post…!)
Zappomatic: Ah! Personally I’d rather flagship/key sites were invested in… bringing up auditoria to “next gen” standards of projection, sound and seating requires major investment…
There were so many multiplexes built within a few years, it’s a little strange to think that they are starting to become like the “fleapits” that so many of the old picture palaces ended up as…
It might be (yet more!) off the mark speculation from my overactive brain, but as Canary Wharf expands North towards Aspen Way it’s getting awfully close to the Cineworld…
I’d be amazed if Billingsgate Market doesn’t move at some point… the adjacent McDonald’s Drive-Thru has been demolished to make way for high rise apartments (with a replacement McDonald’s!) OK, not directly relevant to this site, but it’s a clue on the direction things are moving in the area…
I’m just finding this all a bit odd as they have other sites in London greater need of upgrading, for example other than the Star Seating trial and some new carpet the screens are unchanged from their 2000 state meaning a metal bar can be felt in the backrest of many of the seats.
Wonder what speakers they’re using for Atmos? The SuperScreen had almost as well specified a system as Empire 1 with top-of-the-line JBL ScreenArray screen speakers (dual 18" drivers for the bass section.)
“The 4DX DCP is identical to the regular DCP that we will have classified in the usual way. So, unlike a 3D or IMAX version of a 2D film, 4DX does not involve a different version of the film. In a 4DX exhibition, the classified DCP plays in parallel with a file containing instructions [for the 4DX seats/equipment.]”
PhilipWW: I think the case study photo probably is of the auditorium, that’s the same colour of acoustic wall covering as Screen 5, albeit it’s also the same as other “Warner Village” venues built at that time.
It needs a full refurbishment to bring it up to standard; I doubt such a project is a priority for Vue…
cultman1: Yes.
-Photos of the auditorium and foyer can be seen in the June 1963 edition of International Projectionist. (Thanks to Joe Vogel for the original link to this, although that one no longer works.) It looks like more padding was later added to the seating?
-The foyer/vestibule can be seen in newsreel footage of the “Wonderful Life” premiere from 1964.
-Photos in flickr user dusashenka’s album (at the bottom of the page) – these are from the mid-80s but it doesn’t seem too much has changed since the 60s—including the bar, chandelier, and mink/gold auditorium colour scheme—the “bump” tiles seem to be gold.
The internal access to Screen 2 seems to have been added; otherwise, I wasn’t alive in the 1960s, so someone else may be able to enumerate any changes!
D'oh! Of course it’s the one where the seats are in units of fours…
Using Google Maps to get the cinema dimensions, that gives an estimated screen width of 30ft.
I see the seats are offset so that there is in fact a centrally positioned seat in each rows.
There appears to be two disabled bays, which I assume means they get a 4DX “lite” experience—no 4DX seat but the “environmental” FX only!
Toilets are under the rear of the auditorium, so they can pump in smells as needed… ;–)
Actually, there is a room behind the auditorium, to the right of the booth, which I assume contains the 4DX gear.
Plans within the premises licence – p12-14.
The scan quality is extremely poor.
Zappomatic: Which auditorium is the 4DX screen?
Shame that the picture/sound quality you describe is medicore. In particular 4DX would seem to me to be most effective combined with high quality sound including plenty of headroom, particularly for the LFE sub-bass) channel.
Doesn’t sound very promising for the LSQ conversion… ridiculous that operators spend a fortune on flashy foyers and systems like 4DX but the projection/sound, i.e. the most important aspect of all, isn’t properly calibrated (or possibly sufficiently well specified.) But then that’s the way it always has been…
…or not, although the “target date” is given as “26th October 2017”…
Sub-committee report from the 24th October is available in the main planning application documents, no objections, Draft Decision Notice is for permission to be granted. Expect approval to be issued tomorrow.
Here’s the planning application for the new signage.
A recent licensing application is also listed; alas the only information within is:
“A refurbishment is proposed at the premises involving the removal of existing fixed seating in each of the four auditoria involving the introduction of larger, more luxurious, fewer fixed seats resulting in an overall reduced capacity.”
From Odeon’s website:
“less seats and more personal space… it’s time to experience films the way they were meant to be seen with ISENSE… Dolby Atmos sound and flawless 4K projection.”
The East Kilbride location features “Luxury hand stitched reclining seats.” The auditoria look good…
Panton Street, OTOH, could be considered the ultimate wrong venue for spacious luxury cinemas… would seem to be some room for reconfiguration if the projection booths are dispensed with to form boothless auditoria.
I can’t imagine Empire Cinemas spending £ms to bring the venue up to scratch, too much competition and lots of high quality up-to-date screens in the LSQ-Piccadilly area.
Takes more than a lick of paint to finish a foyer to current expectations. ;–)
£4.99 for a West End cinema ticket… crikey!
Robert: I noticed, in my last visit, a printed stand-alone sign outside the IMAX auditorium saying something like “IMAX (Screen 3).”
Removal of the Empire signage seems to be pending the full foyer/lobby areas refurbishment, quite why Cineworld couldn’t just cover them up with stick-on signage or similar is beyond me…
I can only imagine patrons have to use Google Maps or similar to actually find the “Cineworld” in LSQ; there were a number of American tourists in the auditorium during my last visit.
Shame about the non-functioning masking. :–(
theatreofvarieties: Many, many thanks, once again!
Ah… combined with your post saying that the 1927 circle went higher, the jigsaw puzzle of the 1962 conversion finally makes sense.
For instance, I could never work out why the old “tea room” seemed to be wider than the 1962 main foyer area, with the sloped ceiling implying that the stadia structure is encroaching on the right side of the 1962 foyer.
(Put that way, it seems obvious now; but the layout of the rear of the 1928 auditorium is similar.)
Overlaying redrawn section plans (which I’d previously assumed were simply in no way to scale) suggests that the original projection ports were higher, and the 1962 stadia lower and slightly less steeply raked.
The position of the original circle seems to be approximately at the top of the lighter coloured tiles at the bottom of the sidewalls of the Empire 1’s circle section?
IIRC, from the book “Empire Leicester Square – The First 100 Years” (David High) the original circle was formed by a continuous pour of concrete. The 1962 reconstruction must have been extreme indeed; I can’t work out where the primary girder for the circle could be.
Fantastic. :–)
What happened to the 100 that were saved, and were any other elements of Empire 1 removed and saved?
Also, I wonder about the specifications of the IMAX concealed colour-changing LED lighting, and the cold cathode concealed lights that were in Empire 1?
With the LED lights, I assume that flexible strip types are used, other than the ones around the screen?
Visited the Empire Leicester Square to attend a screening of “Blade Runner 2049” in the IMAX auditorium.
Absolutely stunning film; one could say it’s exactly the film the auditorium was built for. Outstanding picture and excellent (12 channel) sound as well.
Auditorium spotless with very good air conditioning, lighting all well timed to match programme, “non-sync” music from the movie soundtrack.
Pre-show announcement by a member of staff began with “Welcome to the Empire… er… Cineworld Leicester Square…”
“Blade Runner” version of IMAX “Countdown” trailer played.
Foyer continues to deteriorate.
Photos uploaded: “Strictly No Cameras” notice at the entrance to the IMAX auditorium, HVAC extraction duct grille on the 1962 stadia riser.
Oops, omitted the link in the previous post:
Irwin Seating Company – American Seating Products – Stellar.
Turns out that the American Seating Company has sold its architectural fixed seating business to the Irwin Seating Company, also of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
They still offer the following product from the American Seating Company range suitable for auditorium use:
Irwin Seating Company – American Seating Products – Stellar.
This seems to be the closest available new seating to the seats that were installed in Empire 1.
They also have a page showing an example refurbishment of old American Seating Company product.
Aspects of these seats are rather familiar.
Zappomatic: If they’ve already done the new fit-out last time you visited, then why would the acoustics change for Atmos?
The “wooden” wall cladding I can only assume was there because someone thought it would look good… an acoustic disaster!
Quite interesting to compare the original auditorium with today’s standards, cinema interiors have moved on a lot in 10 years. Granted, they tend towards black boxes with few decorative features, but they’re far better than the average tacky multiplex auditorium.
Really should haul myself over to the O2 at some point check out the refurbished screen… alas, more “new” auditoria than films worth seeing these days!
As part of my ongoing research into all aspects of cinemas, I stumbled on the following, which I found amusing:
“In the Towngate Theatre (Poole)… (there is a very) obvious echo (from the rear wall)… Acoustic tiles were installed (as an attempted remedial treatment) in 1978, but the NEXT DAY (my emphasis) (they were painted) the same colour as the adjacent walls… blocking the pores which made them acoustically absorbent.”
(From the book Auditorium Acoustics and Architectural Design.)
At least it took more than 25 years for the same blunder to occur in Empire 1!
FanaticalAboutOdeon: Bring back “The First Choice”!
Regarding the separate 3D screen, as I mentioned in a previous post, the proposed facade has a large Dolby “Double-D” logo prominently positioned above the balcony, suggesting the refurbished cinema will feature a Dolby Cinema installation.
Dolby’s 3D system uses spectral filtering (i.e. slightly different red/green/blue wavelength for each eye, with the wavelength for the other eye filtered by the 3D glasses) rather than polarisation, thus obviating the need for the (polarisation preserving) silver screen.
(I hadn’t thought about this until I replied to your post…!)
Brintons Carpets also have uploaded a video with shots of the Apollo and (advertorial) background information on the new carpet design.
Zappomatic: Ah! Personally I’d rather flagship/key sites were invested in… bringing up auditoria to “next gen” standards of projection, sound and seating requires major investment…
There were so many multiplexes built within a few years, it’s a little strange to think that they are starting to become like the “fleapits” that so many of the old picture palaces ended up as…
It might be (yet more!) off the mark speculation from my overactive brain, but as Canary Wharf expands North towards Aspen Way it’s getting awfully close to the Cineworld…
I’d be amazed if Billingsgate Market doesn’t move at some point… the adjacent McDonald’s Drive-Thru has been demolished to make way for high rise apartments (with a replacement McDonald’s!) OK, not directly relevant to this site, but it’s a clue on the direction things are moving in the area…
Case study on the installation of “acoustic wall treatments”:
http://www.soundsolutionsltd.co.uk/acoustic-solutions/room-acoustic-case-study2.php
PhilipWW: Definitely! Good place to go even if you’re not seeing a film.
Zappomatic:
Eh?
Wonder what speakers they’re using for Atmos? The SuperScreen had almost as well specified a system as Empire 1 with top-of-the-line JBL ScreenArray screen speakers (dual 18" drivers for the bass section.)
PhilipWW: Forgot to say—I did ask about the 4DX auditorium screen size, but I didn’t get a clear answer.
In terms of width, tricky to do much, e.g. there is a fire exit on the right side etc., unless the screen is moved forward.
4DX has nothing to do with the picture whatsoever, control data is added for the seat movements and FX (lights, smoke, scents, etc.)
According to the British Board of Film Classification:
“The 4DX DCP is identical to the regular DCP that we will have classified in the usual way. So, unlike a 3D or IMAX version of a 2D film, 4DX does not involve a different version of the film. In a 4DX exhibition, the classified DCP plays in parallel with a file containing instructions [for the 4DX seats/equipment.]”
Scans of one from March 1950 can be seen at:
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/EmpireLeicesterSquare/CVProg.htm